“It's not the despair, Laura. I can stand the despair. It's the hope.” - Michael Frayn
_
The air was cool and breezy on this summer evening. The tall, meadow-born grass barely stirred from the gentle kisses of the wind. The sunflowers were slowly beginning to close themselves up, protecting their vulnerable buds from the chill of the sunless night. The sparse trees that dotted the landscape stood resolute as the silent guardians of the creatures scampering underneath them. All of the tiny animals that roamed and played in the grasses during the day began moving back into their homes in the trees and underground to rest in preparation for tomorrow.
The moon was high in the sky now, taking its place at the center. Unlike the sun, the moon gave off a soft, gentle light that allowed other celestial bodies farther away to grace the Earth with their beauty. Even the clouds had retreated to allow for this rare display. Millions of stars decorated the night sky, all eager to catch the attention of anyone that had a chance to look at them. They all twinkled one after the other, all trying to outdo each other. One even seemed to fall out of the sky, leaving behind it a bright trail of fiery brilliance.
“Ooh!” a dark purple pegasus called out in surprise. “Make a wish!”
The light blue unicorn lying next to him tilted her head towards him and raised a skeptical brow. “Do you actually believe in that junk?”
The pegasus shrugged his shoulders. “I don't know to be honest. But what's the harm in a little wishing?” He gave her a glance. “Besides you're a unicorn. Shouldn't you believe in magic anyway?”
The unicorn scoffed. “Magic is utilized through incantations and spells to make something specific happen,” she explained. “Wishes are simply the desires of someone. They contain no power and as such do not cause anything to happen.”
The pegasus sat up from his grassy blanket and gave her a somewhat humorous look. “For someone who's supposed to spend her time uncovering the mysteries of the universe, you have very little sense of wonder.”
She shrugged. “I try to keep myself grounded,” she admitted. She smirked. “Unlike you.”
The pegasus tried to feign insult. “Well, I never! It's my job to stay as ungrounded as possible! How else would we get nights as beautiful as this?” He made a wide, sweeping gesture to indicate the cloudless sky.
“It is pretty nice, I'll give you that,” the unicorn complemented.
The pegasus plopped back down onto the grass. “Thanks.” A long silence followed. The two ponies just sat and stared at the diverse assortment of stars and planets adorning the black sky. The pegasus broke the silence. “Astra...”
She perked her ears. “What is it, Allis?”
“Do you know...why I brought you here?” he asked.
“To try and get lucky?” she answered with a disapproving smile.
“No no,” he dismissed. He slowly turned his head. “Although-”
“No,” she answered quickly, deadpan.
He sighed deeply. “Yeah yeah...but seriously, that wasn't it.”
Astra could sense that something was bothering him. This wasn't his usual easygoing tone. She turned on her side so that she was facing him. “Oh, what is it then?”
Allis rolled over and stood up. “This is one of the last places that Discord has yet to touch.”
Astra groaned and stood up as well. Her face was creased with frustration. “I knew this would come up again.” She turned away “See you later.”
“Wait!” Allis placed a hoof on her shoulder. “You can't keep turning your back on this forever!”
Astra shrugged him off of her. “I'm not turning back on anything or anyone! Discord is in Equestria; he's their problem, not ours.” She continued to walk away.
Allis flew in front of Astral, blocking her path. “Are you blind!?” he yelled in frustration. “Do you really think that the God of Chaos is content with causing destruction and misery on a single continent?”
Astra rolled her eyes and tried to keep walking, but Allis moved to block her each time she tried. “We go through this stupid argument every time we go out together!” she complained. “Can't we just spend a normal evening with each other?”
Allis lowered himself to the ground. “That's a luxury we don't have.”
Astra closed her eyes and sighed. “Listen, Allis...I'm sorry about being so short with you. It's just...just...” She trailed off.
“What is it?”
Astra did not respond. She merely tilted her head and looked away. Allis smiled and lowered his back. “Come on.”
Astra opened her eyes. “What are you--?”
Allis chuckled. “Just come on!”
Astra looked a little uneasy. She started running her hooves through her light pink mane over and over. “Are you sure? I mean, you shouldn't be able to fly with another pony on top of you. Your wings are designed to hold your weight only. It isn't-”
He groaned and rolled his eyes. “Will you just get on and stay out of your own head for a second?”
She took a deep breath and laid herself across Allis's back. He buckled a little under the sudden load. “Whoa,” he grunted.
Astra glared down at him.
Allis stood up straight and flexed his wings. “Uh, I meant 'let's go'!” He started running through the meadow. Faster and faster he ran until the flora and fauna around them began to blur. Astra tried to speak but she could barely form words with the wind rushing wildly around them. Tall stalks and fronds whipped across her face, forcing her to close her eyes. Tears streamed out of her eyes even though she had closed them. The speed was just too much for her to handle.
“It's okay!” Allis yelled. “You can open your eyes now!”
Astra shook her head and buried her face into Allis's mane. “I can't!” she mumbled.
“Don't worry!” Allis called out. “You'll be fine!”
Astra slowly lifted her face and opened her eyes. Instantly, she was greeted with a sight that she had never seen before. The world was blurring around her like it had been before, but it was different somehow. It was stinging her to have her eyes open or anything. It was as if the blur was...meant to be. The colors of the environment were all mixing together to form the most beautiful patterns and shapes. The greens of the grass, the browns of the trees, the yellows of the flowers and even the whites and blacks of the sky. They were all melding together in such a wondrous manner.
“Here we go!” Allis announced. “Make sure to hang on tight!”
Astra wondered what he was talking about. Then she looked ahead and realized what was going on. Straight ahead, she saw that there was nothing but the sky in front of them.
The ground was leading up to a cliff.
“No!” she screamed.
Allis merely chuckled. “Whatever you do, don't let go!” He dove off of the edge of the cliff, the sounds of Astra's screams of protest blanketing the air around them. For a few seconds they seemed to hover in the air. Astra stopped screaming and looked around. Time slowed down to a crawl. Even the air stopped moving. Astra gasped. She tried to speak, but even her words were slowed. “Your wings...!” she yelled.
They plummeted down the cliff's edge with Allis's wings still against his side.
Author's Note
Third time's the charm.
Every time I try to quit this story, I always end up getting back into it. It just will not stop until I've successfully completed it. I've tried to fix it this time around. I got rid of all of the unnecessary characters, convoluted backstories, silly countdowns, and most of the general stupidity. Hopefully this time it won't be a colossal failure like my first two tries.
“Time is what prevents everything from happening at once.” - Marvin Cohen
_
Ghastly Gorge was a lot more picturesque than its name gave it credit for. It was over two thousand meters deep and at it's bottom flowed a sparkling river filled the purest water that one would ever find in Equestria. The river started atop the mountain where Canterlot rested and flowed in between Ponyville and the Everfree Forest and eventually into the Ghastly Gorge. It was easy to see the purity of the river from the train despite its height due to the brightness of the sun. The rays of the brightest star in the solar system reflected beautifully off of the river.
There were many myths and legends about how the Ghastly Gorge was formed. One of the most popular was that it was created by Princess Celestia and Nightmare Moon over a thousand years ago. When Celestia had confronted Princess Luna about lowering the moon so that the day could follow, Luna had refused out of jealousy. Afterwards, her physical form transformed into the beast known as Nightmare Moon. The resulting battle left the scar now known as Ghastly Gorge in the land. Even though the fight was fought in the heart of the Everfree Forest, it was still felt elsewhere.
Radley was never one to believe in Gods or supernatural creatures, but alicorns were truly incredible creatures. They embodied all of the best qualities of the three pony races but as such they also had all of their weaknesses. No matter how much most ponies believed them to be, they were nowhere near Godhood.
Radley fiddled with the brilliantly cut red jewel hanging around his neck. He looked at it for a while, admiring its perfect simplicity. The jewel itself had a look similar to that of the Alicorn Amulet, but it wasn't nearly as grandiose as all that. All it was was the red jewel with a grayish setting on a necklace. He wondered how something so beautiful could bring with it such a damnable curse...
“Um...excuse me?”
Radley was shaken out of his thoughts by a tiny voice addressing him. He looked down to see a young pegasus filly. She couldn't have been older than two years. She was bright yellow and had a tan-ish mane and tail. He smiled. “Why hello, little one. What's your name?”
The filly tilted her head in confusion. She did not seem to hear the question. “Are you an Earth pony?”
He nodded. “Yes,” he answered. He gestured to the absence of any extra body parts. “As you can see, I have no wings nor a horn.”
She shook her head. “You don't seem like an Earth pony...”
Radley raised an eyebrow. “I don't?” he answered as if he were shocked. “What makes you think that I'm not an Earth pony?”
The filly pointed to the bag sitting next to him. “Your bag is full of books. Earth ponies don't like to read.”
Radley chuckled. This child was very observant for her age, if not a bit racist. “That's not true. All ponies like to read. Who wouldn't like to take trips to mysterious and wondrous worlds that they otherwise would not be able to visit if not for books?”
The filly took a step backward. “Are you one of those crazy ponies that my mother warned me about?”
Radley laughed aloud. "I probably am. But I am not wrong." He got up out of his seat. He placed his two front hooves together, one on top of the other. Slowly, a small black swirl of smoke formed around his hooves. As he started moving his hooves apart, something sparkling and bright red started taking shape. The black swirl picked up speed as the red object got longer and longer. Then, the swirl stopped and disappeared, leaving behind a beautiful red rose made completely out of crystal. “This is for you, little one.”
The filly's eyes were wide with amazement. Her mouth fell open, completely forgetting her previous misgivings. “B-but you're an Earth pony!”
Radley chuckled. “This world is filled with sights that you have never seen, my little pony,” he said. “As I told you before, don't be so quick to dismiss the wonder of a good book.”
The little pegasus had yet to get over here wonder. She took the crystal rose in her mouth and wagged her tail excitedly. “Wow!” she exclaimed from behind a mouthful of crystal. “I can't wait to show this my mom! Thank you, mister!”
Radley bowed. “Why don't you give it to her as a gift?” he suggested. “Mothers have a tough job.” He roughed up the little pegasus's mane. “You look like you can be a handfull.”
She giggled. “I will!” she promised. “I wish I could do neat stuff like you!”
Immediately, Radley grabbed the little pegasus by the neck and lifted her off of the ground. Shocked, she opened her mouth to scream. In turn, the crystal rose dropped to the floor and shattered into many unfixable pieces. Radley's calm and playful demeanor had completely vanished. “Don't you ever wish for anything! Do you understand how dangerous it is to wish for something!?”
The filly wasn't listening at all. She was far too busy kicking, screaming and crying for her mother. Radley continued, shaking her vigorously. “Never wish for anything ever! You never know who or what might be listening! Do you understand me, you stupid little girl!?!”
“Get your hands off of her!!”
Radley turned to see a very angry female pegasus. Before he even had a chance to explain himself, the pegasus punched him solidly in the jaw. Immediately he dropped the little girl and went flying across the train car. He went straight into the door and hit the floor with a solid and breathtaking thud. “Are you okay, honey!?” the pegasus asked the little mare, distress creasing her voice. "What did I tell you about talking to crazy ponies!?"
The child was still crying and sniffling, making it hard to tell what she was saying. “I-I-(sniff)-I w-walked over (sniff) t-to him a-and h-h-(sniff)-he g-gave m-m-m-me a f-(sniff)-flower th-th-then h-h-he (sniff) picked m-m-m-me up a-a-and st-started sh-sh-sh-sh(sniff)-shaking me!”
The mother hugged her tightly and started petting her head in an attempt to comfort her. “Shhh, don't worry,” she whispered. “You're fine.” Then, she shot Radley the deadliest look he had ever seen. It was filled with all of the malice and hatred the world had ever seen. “He won't be able to hurt you anymore.”
“Attention passengers!” The voice belonged to the conductor coming over the loudspeaker. “We have arrived in Ponyville. Please make sure that you have all of your belongings before exiting the train. Thank you for choosing the Trans-Equestrian Railway for your traveling needs.”
“Come on, darling,” the mother said, picking up the young pegasus and placing her on her back. “Let's go see the castle, okay?”
The child seemed to brighten up at the offer. “(sniff) Okay...”
The two of them exited the train, but not before the mother gave Radley a look that could melt the sun. Radley dusted himself off and sighed. “I'm sure there was a better way to handle that,” he said out loud to himself. “None came to mind.” He retrieved his bag and stepped off of the train. For a while he just stood there, staring into the sky. “This is exactly what you want me to do, is it not?” He closed his eyes. “Fine,” he continued. “I will do as you ask...but I have warned you.”
Author's Note
Before you ask, the answer is yes: there were only three people on that particular train car.
